Central Union rings up another ‘Bell’

Johnny Regaldo (15) and Ian Adame (55) lead Central Union High's celebration after a victory over archrival Brawley in El Centro last night that clinched the Imperial Valley League championship.

Charlie Neuman

Johnny Regaldo (15) and Ian Adame (55) lead Central Union High's celebration after a victory over archrival Brawley in El Centro last night that clinched the Imperial Valley League championship.

Johnny Regaldo (15) and Ian Adame (55) lead Central Union High's celebration after a victory over archrival Brawley in El Centro last night that clinched the Imperial Valley League championship. (Charlie Neuman)

Bell Game

Wanting to assure himself a prime seat for last night's Central Union vs. Brawley high school football game, Jose Escutia lined up outside Central High at 3 p.m., four hours before kickoff, two hours before gates opened.

He still wasn't first in line.

“Heard people started showing up at 2:30,” said Escutia, there to watch his younger brother play for Brawley.

By 5, the line to enter on the visitors' side stretched for blocks. By 5:30, the stands were packed with at least 6,000 fans, By 6:30, a fire marshal warned spectators the game wouldn't start until they cleared the aisles.

Said Brawley coach John Bishop in his understated style, “It's not a bad rivalry.”

The schools met last night for the 66th straight year in what's called “The Bell Game.” Behind a punishing ground game and Rafael Bustos' three field goals, Central (9-1) maintained possession of the bell, winning 23-18 to earn the Imperial Valley League championship.

When the clock ticked down to 0:00, Central fans spilled onto Cal Jones Field. Girls tossed glitter into the sky. Central players hoisted their helmets. And minutes later, Brawley players formed a semicircle around their coaches, many of them unable to hold back tears.

Good luck telling them they still lead the series 41-24-1.

Walking amid a throng of jubilant players, coaches and fans of every age, Central offensive lineman Shon Garcia said, “It's incredible. It's the greatest feeling I've ever had up to my teenage years. To win the bell two years in a row ”

Garcia just shook his sweaty head.

The two schools are separated by 14½ miles. In San Diego, 14½ miles is far enough that athletes from schools that far apart might never cross paths. Not in the Imperial Valley. The players will bump into each other at this weekend's Cattle Call rodeo in Brawley. They'll see other at the Midwinter Fair in Imperial.

“And you want to have bragging rights,” said running back Dylan Mohamed of Brawley (7-3).

Despite playing an excellent all-around game last night as running back, pass catcher, kick returner and defensive back, Mohamed left the field with his head down.

“Losing ‘The Bell,’ ” he said. “It just (stinks).”

About that bell. While the Bell Game officially started in 1944, the schools had met for years before that. Wanting a trophy to signify the rivalry, students from both schools settled on a bell.

According to 80-year-old Pat Casey, who played in the first Bell Game for Brawley, each school chipped in $25, people drove to San Diego, picked out a bell, painted it gold, had it mounted on a silver stand and —
voila
— you had a treasure.

Casey went on to suit up at Stanford, although he admits he played sparingly.

Asked if he could only win one game — Stanford-Cal or The Bell Game — Casey said, “That's the easiest question I've been asked in a long time. The Bell Game. These are guys you grew up with.”

Brawley won the first Bell Game 14-6 with Casey scoring a touchdown directing the Wildcat's single wing offense. Three of his sons and two grandsons have played in the game.

Tyler Steimel, Casey's grandson and a senior starting center for Brawley, became the first male in three generations of the family to never win a Bell Game.

“It's disappointing. It hurts,” said Steimel, who has a 4.71 grade-point average and plans to attend MIT. “But the family's not going to disown me, I'm sure.”

The game not only is a matter of pride, it's a big moneymaker. Central sold 450 “Bell Game” T-shirts to students. At $12 each and keeping 85 percent of the income, that brought in $4,600, which will go toward covering the senior prom.

The booster club typically sells $10,000 worth of concessions on Bell Game night compared to $2,500 for other games. It's a big reason why the boosters were able to buy “Bell Game” black jerseys for the first time.

The Spartans didn't see the jerseys until after warmups, when they returned to their team room and saw them hanging in their lockers.

Said running back Cody Johnson, who scored on a 72-yard touchdown run, “We knew we had to come out and show off those new jerseys.”

How serious is the rivalry? The game was officiated by members of the San Diego County Referee Association rather than their Imperial Valley counterparts.

Explained Jacob Wittler, one of last night's officials, “If there were a perceived bad call, people might not go to his business. Or they'll know where his house is.”

Thirty minutes after last night's game, a tractor carrying The Bell tore around the football field, before settling at the 50-yard line. Players and fans took turns chiming away.